LANCERS RUNNING FOES OUT OF GYM

Lakeside has sprinted into CIF quarterfinals with up-tempo style

LAKE ELSINORE 
Oxygen is at a premium when opponents face the Lakeside High girls basketball team.

The Lancers have thrived this season at turning games into indoor track meets, pushing teams to the limit with their fast-break offense and full-court press on defense.

The tactic has been far from a gimmick, either, as Lakeside has been smothering its foes, averaging a whopping 34.4-point margin of victory in its 24 wins (against just four losses).

The trend has carried into the CIF Southern Section playoffs. Lakeside has thrashed both of its Division III-AA opponents, downing Orange 71-35 in the first round and defeating Yorba Linda 80-46 in the second round Saturday.

“Both teams have said that we have wore them down as we kept going because we didn’t stop,” said coach Anthony Williams, whose fourth-seeded Lancers will play at No. 5 Hacienda Heights Wilson today in the Division III-AA quarterfinals. “That’s what we are trying to create. We’re trying to create tempo other teams aren’t used to seeing.”

The pedal-to-the-metal strategy was born out of necessity, as the Lancers don’t have a player taller than 5-foot-8. But it’s clearly a philosophy that tests opponents’ composure.

“The best part (is) when you hear other teams fighting,” junior guard and captain Megan Wood said. “They are fighting with each other and you know you are in their head and they get frustrated.”

The Lancers’ Sunbelt League championship season (9-1), the first in school history, has been a remarkable 180-degree turnaround. Last year, Lakeside labored through an 8-18 season, including a dismal 0-10 mark in league play.

However, the Lancers believed that last year was a learning process in which they built the foundation for success in 2012-13. They lost four of their league games by six points or fewer.

“Every time we stepped off the floor, (other teams) loved how hard we played,” Williams said.

Last summer, though, was the time when Lakeside blossomed into a potential contender.

In June, Lakeside landed Kianna Williams, a standout guard from Riverside Poly whose family moved to the area.

The Lancers also played a 52-game summer schedule, encountering tough opponents such as Etiwanda, Corona Centennial and Moreno Valley Rancho Verde. The players bonded closely as they traveled on road trips to Palm Springs, Las Vegas and San Diego.

“I feel like I can hang out with anybody on the team and I can have a great time,” Wood said. “There are no groups. We’re not split. We’re all together. We can all make fun of each other. We can all take jokes.”

Williams has been a dynamic point guard for the Lancers. She leads Lakeside in all major categories, including points (17.5), rebounds (7.4), assists (6.2), blocks (1.9) and steals (5.5).

But Kianna might end up being surpassed by her younger sister. Marissa Williams, only a freshman, averages 8.7 points per game off the bench.

“She’s that fireplug (who) comes in,” Anthony Williams said. “We feel we get stronger when we sub her in.”

Senior McKayla Barbee (10.0) and sophomore Victoria Sosa (10.2) also are double-digit scorers for Lakeside. Sosa is a post presence who moves well and racks up rebounds, while Barbee is the school’s all-time-leading 3-point shooter.